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Feb 2021 Translation News

BMBrian Migliazza · Feb 2, 2021, 4:25 PM · Last modified: Sep 28, 2026, 11:38 AM
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February 2021

  • SIL International Translation Services (ITS) Director - Greg Dekker
  • Why do we need a linguistic consultant in translation projects? - Chris Vaz
  • Key Terms of the Old Testament 3rd Release - Paul McLarren
  • New Americas Consultant - Grace Hensarling 
  • Discourse Analysis for Translation Workshop - Steve Nicolle 
  • EMDC Public Website - Steve Baughman 
  • Web Developer Needed for SE Guide - Matt Menger
  • Book Recommendations - Bob Carter, Rick Brown, David Gray
  • CanIL MA Translation of Scripture - Danny Foster
  • Peoples of the Bible: The Philistines - Daniel Master
  • Jerusalem Seminary Online Courses - Baruch Kvasnica
  • Welcome Global Consulting Pool - Greg Dekker
  • Senior Fellowship Higher Education Academy - Phil King

Links for International Translation
SIL International Translation Services Team

International Translation Services (ITS) Director
Greg Dekker

 “Our attitude is more one of desperate daring than boasting…
We expectantly look to our God to perform the necessary miracles to enable us…
In light of the tremendous miracles He has performed already…
it is not presumptuous for us to expect Him to do all the rest that is necessary.”

William Cameron Townsend (Quoted in Beyond magazine, c.2000)

When skeptics challenged Townsend about his statement, “A thousand and more languages can and shall be given the Word of God in this generation,” Townsend replied with the words above.

“Desperate daring.” I like that… In a way it describes many of the actions that Diane and I have taken over the course of our 37 years in Wycliffe, from our Translation and Literacy work in a remote town in Northern Philippines, to other roles we’ve held in Wycliffe Global Alliance and SIL that we felt were too big for us. Or maybe, “naive daring” in our case! Ha! Our son has said to us several times, “Mom and Dad, I can’t believe you took (us) four little children into a remote place, where tribal war was going on, with no hospital, and the only way out was with a four-wheel-drive or helicopter!”

I joined International Translation Services (ITS) on November 1st of last year, and that very week I was able to attend the ETEN (Every Tribe Every Nation) summit. The enthusiasm for the Work, and the description of the remaining needs I heard in that gathering for doing all we can to reach the all access goals were both invigorating and sobering. I came away asking the question, which I have since posed to others, “What will be SIL’s, and more specifically, International Translation Services’ priority contribution(s) to the Bible Translation Movement in the days ahead?”

“Desperate daring” speaks of several things to me. First, desperation. I feel a sense of desperation sometimes when I think about what remains/needs to be done in fulfilling our (ITS’s) role as one of the “principle implementing partners” in ETEN. An Oxford definition of “desperate” is, “feeling... that a situation is so bad as to be impossible to deal with.” ETEN partners recognize the immensity of the Task, too and have established an initiative called “What must change” in order to better determine what needs to happen in order to realize the goal.

Desperation can lead to daring action. When the situation is grim, non-traditional, unusual, momentous, calculated action is required, actions which may or may not be successful, but are needed as a response to the situation. Townsend’s advocacy was for calculated, daring action. It was based on the firm foundation of what God has already done. What God has miraculously accomplished in the past, we can depend on Him to do in the future. This thought turns our sense of desperation into hope, and our actions into calculated daring!

Have you heard it said that you can tell how long a storm will last by watching the birds? If the birds are out searching for food in the rain, you know the rain is going to last a while. As I write this, I see birds outside my window in the rain searching for seeds in the ground! The pandemic “storm” seems to have, in some cases at least, stalled or slowed-down our calculated, daring actions at meeting the Scripture needs of the world. And I have a feeling this storm will be around awhile. But we are taking up many daring projects aimed at enabling clear, accurate, and natural translation to go forward. Projects like: Key Terms of the OT, Bamboo, and, just getting traction this month, the Artificial Intelligence-Enabled Quality Assessment tool. These are some examples of doing things differently to accomplish a sobering goal.

This introduction has already been too long, but one more thing before I end. The “Why statement” in Action Plan 2 says, “We long for people to experience transformation flowing from God’s word into the Church and society through their languages”. I believe that the challenge that is upon us is to always keep “transformation” as the goal. The products are not the goal. Transformed and flourishing communities are the goal. The products are part of the means to the goal. We are designing and building products that enable people to experience life-changing transformation as they encounter the life-giving truth of who Jesus is and what He has done for them.

It is my privilege and pleasure to be working in this Task with you all, learning from you, and building together the tools, practices, necessary research, training, oral and other strategies to accomplish something that is impossible if done in our own strength. Have a great month ahead! 

Why do we need a linguistic consultant in translation projects?

Chris Vaz

Chris Vaz has provided some suggestions on  why a linguistic consultant is still needed in checking Bible translations. Feel free to email Chris Vaz for a copy of either of these BT conference papers.

Are Bible translators still doing linguistics? (2015)

  • While there has been a recent trend towards acceleration of translation projects, which is welcome, this is often being accomplished at the expense of the linguistic quality of the translated work.
  • In this paper, I strongly suggest that every draft of scripture prepared by a translation team be checked by a language consultant as well as a translation consultant. A language consultant is one who is linguistically trained and has worked with the receptor language (or related languages) so as to gain familiarity with its phonological, morphological, syntactic and discourse structures.
  • I outline the kinds of errors that would be missed by merely looking at a back translation (BT) of the draft. I also present data from my own experience of checking Luke 1-2 in the Aheri Gondi language of central India. Being an other-tongue facilitator of the translation project in a language closely related to Gondi, I could review the Gondi draft itself, though an English BT was also available.
  • Of my 109 suggestions in these two chapters which resulted in changes to the draft, as many as 28% could not have been made by reviewing the BT alone. A further 9% fall into a gray area where their detection would depend on the way the BT is written and the discernment of the consultant.
  • I therefore conclude that the role of a language consultant is essential for producing a natural and impactful translation. Such a consultant should also be mentoring the translation teams in developing an eye for linguistic detail and naturalness.

Checking translations for communicative adequacy (2019)

  • At the 2015 conference, I did a presentation based on checking of Aheri Gondi (Dravidian, central India) to demonstrate how so many issues can be missed if the consultant reviews the BT alone.
  • In this paper, I share my experience of checking some psalms in Halbi, an Indo-Aryan language of central India. A consultant who specializes in OT and was trained in Hebrew poetry did the review remotely while my responsibility was merely to follow up her notes in a face-to-face check with a UNS.
  • I discovered that my attention to the linguistic features of the draft and issues of naturalness and discourse led me to do a lot more work than I had expected. Though I do not know Halbi, I am reasonably proficient in Hindi, which is closely related.
  • Of the 231 suggestions in 16 psalms that actually resulted in changes to the draft, 51 (22% of total) were related to naturalness and discourse, of which 42 were generated by my review. 19 other issues (8%) were picked up only because I looked at the actual draft.
  • These findings strengthen the case for requiring consultants to pay closer attention to receptor language features. We need to also reckon with the fact that project teams have varying competencies in writing back-translations. My experience with this check also demonstrates that the consultant does not need to know the receptor language to be able to review the draft translation.

Key Terms of the Old Testament - 3rd Release
Paul McLarren

Paul McLarren (KTOT Project Manager) and the Key Terms of the Old Testament editors are pleased to announce a release of eleven new articles, bringing the total number of Key Terms covered to 48. We anticipate further releases over the next 12 to 16 months. Our goal is to have 100 articles by early 2022.

KTOT is still not fully integrated as a part of the Paratext installation. But it can be installed as a Source Language Dictionary in Paratext by following these instructions. Be sure that the Extras tab is active, then scroll to the bottom of the Extras page where you will find the instructions for downloading and installing KTOT.

We welcome feedback. Be sure to use KTOT. Let us know what you like about it and what you think could be improved. We already have a list of improvements that we are slowly trying to make as we work with the Paratext team. We hope to position KTOT to eventually take advantage of new Paratext developments.

New Americas Consultant
Grace Hensarling

Congratulations to Grace Hensarling on completing her Translation CiT training and becoming fully accredited as a new Translation Consultant. Mike Miller and Rick Floyd (S_IL South Translation Team co-leaders_) write:

  • On behalf of the SIL South Region, we are pleased to announce your official designation as a Translation Consultant for SIL America’s Area.
  • This decision comes after receiving enthusiastic recommendations from your colleagues who have observed your engagement with numerous translation projects during your tenure as a Consultant-in-Training.
  • Upon a consideration of these, along with a review of your Growth Plan, the Translation Coordinators for SIL North Region, Mexico Branch, South Region and Brazil agree that you merit this status.
  • Congratulations, and thank you for your many years of service to the Bibleless peoples of South America!

Grace has a BA from Moody and an MA in Linguistics from the University of Texas at Arlington. She and the *Igor (pseudonym) community completed a New Testament translation in 2014. 

Discourse Analysis for Translation Workshop
Steve Nicolle
“Oh, lucky man! I wonder who that was?” That was the reaction of the Alekano people of Papua New Guinea when they first read John 5:24 in their language: He who hears my word and believes on the one who sent me has eternal life. They thought there was just one person who would get eternal life! The translators later learned, with the help of a consultant, not to follow the structures of the national language, and changed this verse to those who instead of he who, because this is the way their language talks about a non-specific person.

You too can learn and apply discourse by attending the Workshop in Discourse Analysis for Translation, hosted by CanIL This workshop can be taken online or in person (assuming travel restrictions allow). And, online participants can take just the narrative portion (13 June – 16 July), just the non-narrative portion (12 July – 13 August), or the full workshop. Online participants will be able to join sessions through a live-stream link or by watching recordings of these sessions, and will also have weekly one-on-one consultation time with an advisor. One day each week will be given over to presentations by workshop participants and open discussion of issues in discourse analysis. Apply now before this workshop fills up!

  • Workshop Website
  • Application form
  • Application deadline – 30 April 2021
  • Goals – Participants are equipped to describe the linguistic features of narrative, hortatory and expository texts in a language familiar to them, and to assist others in translating materials accurately, naturally and clearly. They analyze Scripture passages, address discourse-related issues relevant to translation, write-up their findings and potentially publish a paper.
  • Cost estimate if in university accommodation (tbc) - $1,900 CAD: $400 workshop fee plus $1500 for 9 weeks of housing (about $170 /week) in a shared dorm room. (Housing costs are subject to change.) Some funding for housing may be available to people working in Bible translation. These amounts are in Canadian dollars.
  • Cost estimate if online (tbc) - $400 CAD: workshop fee. These amounts are in Canadian dollars, so the cost is nearly one third less than if it were in US dollars!
  • For further information contact Dr. Steve Nicolle 

Why learn discourse analysis?

  • Scripture becomes more clear, accurate and natural as translators better understand discourse.
  • When the quality of the text is improved through applying discourse, less time is required for consultant checking. 

Why write about discourse?

  • The process of writing improves the accuracy of what is understood about discourse.
  • Advisors can more easily train translators in applying discourse, even when there is turnover in personnel. 

Why attend the Workshop in Discourse Analysis in 2021?

  • You will be inspired by the uniqueness of the language and rise to the challenge of using it to naturally communicate God’s Word. 
  • You will have individual help as needed each day to make the translation increasingly clear, accurate and natural.

“I feel I’ve learned more about how our language works this summer than I learned in the past several years working on the translation project. I'm coming away with more confidence in how to do future research as well as more of an awareness of what to look for in our translation.” (2019 CanIL-based workshop participant)

EMDC Public Website
Steve Baughman
Steve Baughman announced the launch of the new EMDC public website. This EMDC.info website (https://emdc.info/) is an expansion of their platforms, becoming a bit more open to the public and offering a wealth of Scripture Engagement (SE) information.  The goal of the EMDC team is to help equip you in your God-given ministries. 

  • Classroom - learn and interact in our one-hour sessions and Training Tracks.  EMDC.online continues to add learners, presenters, trainers, classes, and Training Tracks. Paul has built an amazing platform allowing you to share with others the expertise that you have.
  • Blog - discuss the latest ideas in dozens of domains. EMDC.blog is new, and we have loaded a few articles on there to get this started.  Joshy and Peter will monitor that very creatively.  Keep your eye on it and look for ways to submit an article. 
  • Guide - use the Taste&See Scripture Engagement Guide to assess the needs of your project. EMDC.guide will come alongside you with consultants and resources that may help you with your projects that lead to Scripture Engagement. Matt and his team will have that up and running in 2021.
  • Podcast - listen to interviews with practitioners in the different EMDC domains. EMDC.live is the new podcast hosted by Tim. There you can listen to specialists as they discuss all the different domains of EMDC.
  • Conference - discover and attend our in-person gatherings. EMDC.events will keep you informed about our on-site EMDC events and other events that are closely related. 

Web Developer Needed for SE Guide
Matt Menger
The SE Guide (formerly Taste&See) is looking for a Web Developer. The Scripture Engagement Guide exists so that local communities everywhere are engaging with Scripture in transformative ways. We are developing a web-based tool which facilitates understanding of Scripture Engagement, helps communities assess their needs, make plans, and access the resources they need. The team is in the process of rebuilding its website and is currently seeking a website developer with Wordpress and HTML/CSS experience. If you are interested or know someone who might be, please take a look at this job description and contact Matt Menger (Team Leader, emdc.guide [The SE Guide]) for more information.

Book Recommendations
Bob Carter, Rick Brown, & David Gray

Bob Carter (SC Translation Consultant) highly recommends this book on Leviticus. Ann White (SC Translation Consultant) originally recommended it to me, and I used Morales' overview to prepare an introduction to Leviticus for a two-week workshop on the book. Morales suggests that Leviticus is the center of the Torah and the Day of Atonement in chapter 16 is the center of Leviticus. His presentation makes very good sense to me and helps me to place the book and some important key terms/concepts in their place in the Torah and the rest of the Bible, including the Book of Hebrews. 

Morales, L. Michael. 2015. Who Shall Ascend the Mountain of the Lord?: A Biblical Theology of the book of Leviticus. Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity. 

Rick Brown (Eurasia Translation Consultant) is enthusiastic about this book on Bible translation for non-specialists.
Brunn, Dave. 2013. One Bible, Many Versions: Are All Translations Created Equal? Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity. 

What makes a Bible translation faithful? Is one version superior to others? Do we really need more than one translation? How can answering these questions help us become better Bible readers? By giving us a better understanding of the process of translation, Brunn helps us read and understand Scripture more clearly. He demonstrates how the variety of translations enables us to grasp more fully the meaning of the biblical text.

David Gray (Eurasia Translation Consultant) recommends these books as enjoyable and highly readable.

Bellos, David. 2011. Is That a Fish in Your Ear? Translation and the Meaning of Everything. New York: Penguin.  

Katan, David. 2014. Translating Cultures: An Introduction for Translators, Interpreters and Mediators. Manchester, UK: Jerome Publishing. 

CanIL MA Translation of Scripture
Danny Foster
CanIL (Canada Institute of Linguistics) has posted the prospectus for their new Master of Arts in Translation of Scripture . This competency-based MATS degree is now  processing eleven Wycliffe Ethiopia candidates for the pilot program. For more information you can email the CanIL Admissions Team.

Peoples of the Bible: The Philistines
Daniel Master
In January, Dr. Daniel Master (Wheaton College Professor of Archaeology) gave an excellent online presentation about the Philistines. You can now watch it on YouTube, as seen in the link below. He discussed how and when the Philistines first encountered the Israelites and then traces them all the way to their demise at the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. This lecture was hosted by the Museum of the Bible and co-sponsored by the Friends of the Israel Antiquities Authority. 

Peoples of the Bible: The Philistines
Dr. Daniel Master (Wheaton)
For more than 25 years, Dr. Master's archaeological research has been part of the Leon Levy Expedition to Ashkelon.

         
Jerusalem Seminary Online Courses
Brian (Baruch) Kvasnica
Brian (Baruch) Kvasnica announced that Jerusalem Seminary's March-June 2021 inaugural online courses are now officially open for registration. Click here to access their course catalogue and registration information. Four courses are offered: 

Welcome Global Consulting Pool
Greg Dekker
International Translation Services (ITS) welcomes the Global Consulting Pool (GCP), led by Bill Bivin. As of Jan 1st, the GCP has moved from the supervision of Jim Roberts to Ian Hollman in International Language Services, where it has found a “home” within ITS under the supervision of Greg Dekker.

The GCP provides a community for translation consultants working remotely from their passport countries, as envisioned some years ago by the SIL International Executive leadership and the Wycliffe USA leadership. It also offers an opportunity within SIL for qualified individuals to be trained as consultants when bsed in their home countries. The pool provides consultants with professional development opportunities, a community of practice, staff care services, and logistical support. For more information see this FAQ page.

The GCP started as a pilot project to address attrition among SIL’s translation consultants and the need for better management and deployment of remotely working consultants. Wycliffe organizations noticed that funded projects are sometimes slowed for lack of consultants. They also noticed that their  seconded staff serving as consultants, struggled to remain meaningfully deployed while working from their home countries.

To address these trends SIL launched the Global Consultant Pool to give experienced and valued consulting staff opportunities to continue serving in SIL and to be deployed to projects through a globally managed pool.  The Director, Bill Bivin, works closely with Area and OU leaders to identify staff that might fit with the global pool, and to connect them with service opportunities.

Senior Fellowship Higher Education Academy
Phil King
Congratulations to Phil King (International Coordinator for Translation Training and Development) on his appointment to the Senior Fellowship Higher Education Academy (SFHEA). The Higher Educatoin Academy Fellowship, granted by the Advance Higher Education panel, is an international recognition of a commitment to professionalism in teaching and learning in higher education and demonstrates that teaching practice is aligned with the UK Professional Standards Framework (UKPSF). Phil teaches Hebrew part time at Moorlands College, UK.

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Copyright © 2021 SIL International Translation Services. All rights reserved.
You are receiving this email because of your interest in translation updates.

This newsletter is produced by SIL International Translation Services. Editors are Tuula O'Rear and Brian Migliazza. It contains items of interest for translation personnel within SIL and related organizations. It includes notices of upcoming conferences and workshops, announcements of recent dissertations and journal articles, and pointers to useful information related to translation.
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